


A Place Between Hope and Fear

by bugbiter



Category: TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise
Genre: (cause fuck your dragons niosi), Abusive Relationships, Also Lots of Artistic Liberty, Lots of character development, Mental Illness, Multi, Multi-media, Substance Abuse, Transphobia, canon AU, mentions of:, no sci-fi au, tags will be added as needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 04:26:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11982102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bugbiter/pseuds/bugbiter
Summary: In which the Forbidden Power lays not in the programming, but in the hands of those who are willing to do anything to feel wanted.[Canon rewrite, no Forbidden Power/virus.]





	A Place Between Hope and Fear

;Lavendera wasn't exactly Alpha's favorite place to be.

  
Not to say it wasn't nice-- he liked the color purple, at least --but he had the bad luck of always getting ambushed when he was just trying to find his friends. Walking through the denser crowds and trying not to bump into anyone he didn't know well, he passed by one of the few cliffs in the central region, hoping to God that he wouldn't have to deal with--

  
"Well, it's about time!"

  
_That guy._  
  
Alpha simply pivoted on his heel, bringing his arm up to summon an Orion Disk before his attacker could attempt to strike him. As usual, he easily deflected a swing from a brightly lit energy blade, and jumped back as its user looked up back at him with an annoyed glare.

  
"You're _late_."

  
**Username: Zetto** ****  
**Race: Mechanical** ****  
**Class: Wielder** **  
** **Power: Energy Manipulation**

  
Zetto was always the kind of guy to hold a grudge about being on time (even though there was never really a set time anyway, Alpha just kind of tended to come on at around 2 or so). He readied his blade again, a large glistening sword made of blue electricity, and attempted to strike again before he was hit with a well timed disk.

  
"I don't know why you always attack me the same way," Alpha shrugged, dashing forward to uppercut his stunned assailant before spiking him downward into the rocks. "If you keep letting me know that you're gonna try and hit me the same way, you're never gonna win." It was almost pitiful how easily the 'LOSE!' text seemed to pop up for him nowadays when they fought-- he almost felt bad. Holding out a hand to help him up, he only received a dismissive swat in return before Zetto pulled himself up, grunting in anger as if to say 'this isn't over'.

  
Watching this display, he suddenly remembered why he never _actually_ felt bad.

  
"Well, anyway," Alpha almost sneered, turning to look around the crowded area. "Do you know where everyone else is? Or were you too busy getting ready to impress me with your amazing swordsmanship again?"

  
The mechanical player scoffed, trying to turn the other cheek to the insult. "They should get here soon enough. You know how they all are." He only received a shrug in response to his half-hearted attempt at an insult, before he looked over, eyebrow raising at the sight of leathery bat wings. "Oh, speak of the devil. Look who's here."

  
**Username: Flamegirl** ****  
**Race: Humanoid** ****  
**Class: Spellcaster** **  
** **Power: Fire**

  
Alpha's eyes brightened up, to his friend's disdain, as he immediately headed towards her, angel wings flapping with excitement to talk to someone who wasn't a stick in the mud. "Hey, Flamey!" He called, getting nearer now, and she turned to look at him with eyes just as excited to see him.

  
"Yo! Glad to see you finally got here!" Giving him a sharp-toothed grin, she turned to the other two near her, who were in what seemed to be a riveting conversation. "Nylocke's been hyping himself up for the past ten minutes-- thought our lil' Softy here might need a break from all his Ye Olde ranting."

  
**Username: Gamesoft** ****  
**Race: Morphological** ****  
**Class: Spellcaster** **  
** **Power: Shadows**

  
That one brought him a laugh; Gamesoft would never stop listening to Nylocke if she could help it. He glanced over to her and was unsurprised to see her enamored expression at the dragon's improvised semantics, her eyes watering with pink crocodile tears at a sad moment and immediately drying back up at a moment of victory. Her admiration of him was always something that he enjoyed. Though he liked Nylocke's persona too, it was just too hard for him to indulge in the roleplaying scene, so he never bothered in entertaining it too much. Maybe it was because she was younger than him that she could still appreciate it so strongly.

  
"But before his blade could again strike me, I gathered my wits, bringing myself back to my feet and-- Hark!" Finally noticing his existence, Nylocke turned himself around, tail swinging in tow and Gamesoft right behind it. "Sir Alpha has made his appearance! Good day to thee, friend: I assume that Lord Zetto has met with you already, judging by his grim demeanor. Or rather, more grim than it would be on an average morn! Bahaha!"  
  
**Username: Nylocke** ****  
**Race: Draconian** ****  
**Class: Wielder** **  
** **Power: Ice**

****

  
"Shut up, Nye." Zetto spat, looking rather embarrassed before glancing towards his hand, fingers fidgeting. "Don't call me a Lord, either. It's weird."

  
"Would Count be more suited to your ranking of nobility?" The dragon seemed legitimately worried about the discomfort, cocking his head to the side and ears drooping slightly. "O-or rather, is Lord too lowly for your status? Should I resort to Prince instead?" His only answer was an exhausted sigh and shuffling feet, and he decided to drop the subject (though he agreed-- Zetto seemed much more fitting of a princely title with his regal attire! He noted the change in moniker for later).

  
Flamegirl's snort interrupted the two's discussion, and they turned to her covering her mouth with a gloved hand. "Sorry," She said, rather flustered. "Couldn't help myself." Flapping her wings to propel herself up onto a plateau of lilac rock to sit on, she looked down at her party. "Anyway, now that we're all here, the reason why I wanted us all to meet up is because I wanted to head out to ;Nimbus and take the train to Turin City to catch up with some people from the last big quest we did."

  
"Turin's the one with all the parks, right?" Alpha chimed, eyebrows furrowing. "I don't remember that well-- I usually just sit around in the plaza waiting for you or Softy to show up." She replied with a laugh, kicking her feet before pulling up her UI window and selecting the map, mirroring it for her friend's viewing pleasure.

  
  
"You were right, but I just wanted to make sure that you wouldn't get lost again." Pointing out the large region of ;Mechcity, she marked Turin City's train stop as the redhead across from her tried to forget the last time he attempted to take TOME's railway system and ended up in the scarier parts of Sunway Plaza.

  
"Don't worry, Sir Alpha of Poor Spatial Awareness," A large hand sets itself on his shoulder, and even though his new title was kind of an insult, he still feels kind of comforted. "I, too, find myself rather perplexed by the labyrinth-like roadways of the concrete jungle." He makes a mental note not to take Nylocke out there too much anymore, hoping that sometime they could all plan to hang out in ;Sanctuary instead.

  
As Flamegirl closed her map and hopped off the rocks, she pointed onwards for the rest of the group to start walking, with Nylocke bravely leading the front and Gamesoft trailing excitedly behind him. Alpha and Flamegirl walked side by side, talking about some character they had seen earlier while Zetto stayed close by, rather intent on just listening and brooding. The trip to the station wouldn't take more than five or six minutes, as they were pretty close to the pathway from Datura anyway and the path seemed decently clear.

  
...That is, until the rather alarming sound of an explosion and debris flying towards them made itself apparent.

  
Nylocke's first instinct was to take cover, picking up Gamesoft and gesturing his friends with his tail to head towards a larger rock that hadn't been toppled over by the sudden attack.

  
"The _fuck_ was that!?" Zetto yelled, looking obviously distraught.

  
"Such language is unbefitting of nobility, even in situations like these!"

  
"Dude, someone bombed the bridge to the station and you're thinking about your Puritan habits!? Come on!" He was only met with a rare eye roll from the dragon as he looked over their cover to scope the damage.

  
Flamegirl was already attempting to look for a target, jumping up from her safe zone to perch on top of one of the higher pieces of debris. Her eyes, narrowed in concentration, scanned the area with sniper precision, trying to get a solid look at the assailant.

  
"You see anything?" Alpha looked up at her, ready to climb up and help out whenever necessary.

  
"Barely-- whoever's causing this much damage to the area is doing it way too fast for me to follow." She put a hand over her eyes as if to visor them from the sun and enhance her sight. "That shouldn't be possible though. I can usually get people like you, and your speed is almost maxed out."

  
Gamesoft finally spoke up, tucking a jelly-like piece of hair behind her ear. "They shouldn't be able to destroy this much of the environment either. There's only so much you can do during battle until the code is told not to break down the rocks any further to keep the basic shape of the land in tact. If this person is messing with the very foundations of the area--"

  
"--they're hacking," The winged spellcaster finished, aiming a flaming bullet at her pointer finger. "Target spotted. Animalistic and morphological, 12 'o clock." She looked at the rest of the group briefly, flashing a grin. "I'm sure you all remember what we do to hackers."

  
"We crush 'em!" The slime girl spoke up, putting up her arms as if to flex.

  
"Damn right we do. Now, get going, team!"

**Author's Note:**

> THANK YOU FOR GIVING THE FIRST CHAPTER A LOOK!! i've spent a lot of blood sweat and tears (mostly the last two) making this AU and trying to perfect it-- getting a lot of second opinions and making everyone look at my dumb designs and ideas but I'M SO GLAD at how much positive reception it's gotten from my friend group-- i hope it does the same for everyone who decides to follow its progress


End file.
